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Trust Weighted
Really Great
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66Trust Points
Wick's Review
Summary - Really Great 4.5
The Who get deconstructed in the cheeky documentary Lambert & Stamp, about Kit Lambert & Chris Stamp, the fifth & sixth members of the band. Whimsy, rockstar excess, sex and drugs and money, lots of money, inform the stories that get exuberantly recounted by Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry, Chris Stamp, Terence Stamp and others in their coterie. It radiates the demented glory that British rockstars do so well.
Kit Lambert, an Oxford swell, son of a famous classical composer, was flamboyant in an upper-crust way.
Chris Stamp looked like a moviestar and lived like a rockstar.
He subsequently became a psychodrama therapist in East Hampton, New York. Perfect, that.
Based on their success managing The Who, Lambert & Stamp founded Track Records in ‘66, with The Who their main act. Then they discovered Jimi Hendrix, who agreed to record on Track. Golden Earring came later. Mostly an album label, Track’s singles included at least half a dozen iconic rock songs. Bam!
- Purple Haze
- Long Live Rock
- Behind Blue Eyes
- All Along the Watchtower
- Radar Love
- Love, Reign o’er Me
Lambert & Stamp focuses primarily on their relationship with The Who, who under their ministrations became a rock colossus who ultimately owned a movie studio based on Lambert & Stamp’s work. Pow.
Cheeky narration and pop art affectations give Lambert & Stamp a boyancy. Notwithstanding Kit & Chris’s major role in Jimi’s career, L&S now takes its place alongside other essential Who docs like Quadrophenia – The Complete Story, Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who & The Kids Are Alright.
Long Live Rock!
Acting - Perfect 5.0
Most of the stories are related by Chris Stamp, Pete Townshend and Richard Barnes, who was Pete’s roommate in the early days of The Who.
Roger Daltrey gets a few words in edgewise, consistent with the dynamic of the band. Interestingly, his wife Heather speaks almost as much as he does, albeit while sitting on a couch with Chris Stamp, not with her husband. Hmmm…
Townshend is perhaps most interesting on John Entwistle and Keith Moon (“not a drummer” per Pete).
Others on the scene include Irish Jack, who also showed up in Quadrophenia – The Complete Story.
Terence Stamp, Chris’s moviestar brother, describes his vantage point on the crazy days of the 60s and 70s. Interestingly, Chris is much better looking than Terence. Daltrey says he was the Ace Face.
Male Stars - Perfect 5.0
Female Stars - Perfect 5.0
Female Costars - Perfect 5.0
Male Costars - Perfect 5.0
Film - Really Great 4.5
James D. Cooper fills his film with pop art affectations that look true to the spirit of the band once billed as Maximum R&B. Buoyant & Brilliant!
Direction - Really Great 4.5
Dialogue - Perfect 5.0
Music - Perfect 5.0
There's vastly more talking than music in the doc. Snippets of Who songs do get played, but it's hardly a concert film. While most of the following list of songs don't appear, they are notable as some of the singles that Lambert & Stamp's Track Records released: _5.15, All Along the Watchtower, Behind Blue Eyes, Crosstown Traffic, Fire_ (Arthur Brown), _I Can See for Miles, Join Together, The Last Time_ (The Rolling Stones), _Long Live Rock, Love, Reign o'er Me, Magic Bus, Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand, Purple Haze, Radar Love, The Real Me, Relay, The Seeker, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), The Wind Cries Mary_.Visuals - Great 4.0
Edge - Risqué 1.9
Much of what gets retold would be illegal in most of the world
Sex Titillating 1.8
Violence Gentle 1.4
Rudeness Salty 2.4
Reality - Natural 1.0
For Who heads like me, Lambert & Stamp is full of new notions.
- Kit Lambert gets credited with giving Pete Townshend his compositional guidance. For instance, it was Kit’s idea to add an overture to Tommy, even though that first rock opera was really just a bunch of songs with a ribbon put round them. Pete would be more directed and successful with Quadrophenia.
- Each member of the band thinks he’s the one who was aggrieved at some point along the way. Each points to others as the leader of The Who, variously Kit Lambert, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and Chris Stamp.
- Townshend wrote lots of bad songs, all of which Lambert & Stamp would enthusiastically receive. Then Kit would gently encourage Pete to develop the one or two good songs in the bunch, a management skill that the genius Townshend appreciates to this day.